#has been sitting in my drafts for awhile but feels relevant now

[aroundyourthroat]

learning brian is a cryptobro was my 9/11. who wants to start a gay sex band?

[aroyaltailor]

semi-hiatus (vent warning)

Currently failing Spanish 102 and things are not getting better. In a move that I'm sure will surprise none of those who follow this blog, I am going to be taking a hiatus from any writing. Yes, another break! Another hiatus, putting off work on this blog and leaving the replies I owe to rot in my drafts. The words simply do not come out of me, and I'm still struggling with perfectionism that blocks any genuine attempts at getting anything done. I basically have to learn the entirety of Spanish, or at least the relevant information for the class, because if I fail I won't be able to graduate this semester.

It's the same damn thing every time. I've submitted a request for the counseling service provided by my college, but they have a two week waiting period due to the huge influx of students needing mental health help these days. I genuinely believe that I've reached a point where I need professional help with my writing, and that I have somekind of OCD that prevents me from simply writing the first draft without needlessly fussing over every word.

I really didn't want to have to make this post. I was holding on to the hope that things would be alright. I was hoping that everything would be okay. That I'd be able to create legitimate routines, learn how to comprehend Spanish, and that I would be able to have the time to sit back and focus and work on building this blog.

The first exam of the class is next Tuesday, September 10th. I won't lie, I'm basically spiraling at this point. Self-care is at a total minimum, and I haven't really been taking care of my health either. I'm not eating much, both out of lack of hunger and the simple fact that my household doesn't have any food available. Today alone, I've been slouched over the table in the upstairs study rooms of my college, staring at this damned screen all day. Suicidal thoughts, a bit of self-harm with a pen, it feels just as bad as organic chemistry. And the genuine possibility that I might be kicked out the house if I fail Spanish 102 isn't helping matters. I don't really have anyone to talk to either, not in-person at least. Not really even online either, but that's probably too jaded for me to say. Doubt anyone will even read this, but that understandable I guess. Everyone has their own problems, so many people do, and they can't pause and stop when they have their own concerns to deal with, especially for someone that hasn't really produced anything.

Let's just say it isn't getting better. It's not. It's getting worse. I can't be on here as much as I want to, and I'm beginning to think that I've been damaged permanently by what happened to me. My dad had lung cancer, I did everything I could, but that's all I can say about it. Even just typing that sentence has me bawling now.

I'll either pass Spanish 102 this semester or I won't. If I don't, I definitely won't take it well. I'm sorry for everything I've said about how I'd made progress, or that I'd be around to do replies only to post nothing at all. I'm not doing well and haven't been for awhile.

Hopefully things will get better. But then again, I've said that before haven't I? Time will tell. I'm sorry to everyone for the times I've wasted their time with starters or replies I haven't responded to yet. Blog isn't even finished yet, but if I pass I'll try. I promise I'll try.

[drunk-on-dk]

hi! not sure if it’s ok to ask but have your posts not appeared in the tags before? and if so, how’d you solve the problem 😓

hi there! no worries at all, this is completely ok to ask! (we’re all in this together on this site) ❤️ this can be totally discouraging and I’ve seen/heard about it happening

Putting in a read more just in case I end up ranting lol

To be quite honest, I have only started putting out my own content within the past couple of months (and my works are quite spaced out bc I’m a slowpoke), so I may not have the key to solving this problem! However, I have experienced tags being a bit weird for me once or twice now, but I’m not sure how well any of my fixes have worked.

At first, I used to get a bit tag happy and would just list a bunch of tags that I thought were relevant to my fics (not assuming that you tag a lot, but just want to give context on this fix for me). However, what happens is that sometimes the tag I want my fic to show up in the most ends up getting accidentally buried, and I’m not sure if this has an affect on how tumblr filters (maybe, maybe not?).

What I’ve done since then is only have tagged what is super relevant for my fics, pretty much only tagging my target tags that I want my fic to show up in, and I keep those tags within the first 5 tags (I try not to exceed 10 if anything, but typically keep it at 5-6). It’s been working pretty well for me in the meantime, but I don’t know for sure if this is the key fix!

If this doesn’t work, sometimes I go in and remove the tags after posting, hit save, and re-add in the tags. I’m not too sure how well this works though either! I feel like the main problem I’ve had is when my tags sit in a draft for awhile and then I post without revamping them. This is just a theory though, I could be completely wrong.

Otherwise, I apologize as my experience isn’t super great, but this is what I’ve tried thus far and haven’t had too much of an issue with tags! It’s hard to find a direct answer on this since there is a lot of conflicting information/input, so I’m not too positive that these fixes will work for everyone. Even so, I hope this helps you in the slightest, I’m sorry if you’ve been having problems with the tags ❤️ wishing that all your content ends up in the tags you want it to!!!!

[hexiva]

Book Reviews

I’m getting back into reading fantasy, getting a bunch of random books out of the library if they look good. I thought I’d post my thoughts on them.

The Tiger at Midnight, by Swati Teerdhala Inspired by the culture of ancient India and Hindu mythology, The Tiger at Midnight by Swati Teerdhala features a cat-and-mouse game of deception and thrills between a rebel assassin and the reluctant young soldier tasked to bring her to justice.

Just finished this one. There were definitely times when I thought I was just going to stop and take it back to the library unread. It’s by no means a terrible book, but in many ways it feels too much like every other YA book I’ve read. I really like the concept of the central romance: it’s an enemy romance, which I love, the characters have a pretty equal power dynamic, and there’s no gross abuse stuff to put me off. It also felt like a gender-reversal of the typical YA dynamics - Esha is like the dark, handsome, conflicted romance hero, and Kunal is like the sweet, repressed heroine. I liked that, and I really liked Esha as a character. Kunal was by no means unsympathetic either. But the relationship between the two of them, which was central to the book, felt really under developed. The narrative informs us that they feel something for each other very early on, when they’ve barely spoken, and continues informing us of their feelings, but I kept wondering . . . why? There were a couple of points where there was a line like “It’s strange that I feel so strongly for him given we barely know each other!” and I feel like, when you find yourself writing a line like that, you should sit back and think a bit about why you felt the need to point this out. It felt like there were opportunities for them to be pushed together and bond, and the book didn’t really capitalize on them - or, rather, acted as if they’d already been pushed together. It felt like it was missing a key moment early on in the book where they bond. There’s a reveal halfway through the book (pg 300 out of 500) that they knew each other as children, but it’s too little too late.

5/10. I’m thinking of picking up her next book because I feel like there’s a lot of potential here and I’d like to read a more polished version of this book.

Akata Warrior, by Nnedi Okorafor A year ago, Sunny Nwazue, an American-born girl Nigerian girl, was inducted into the secret Leopard Society. As she began to develop her magical powers, Sunny learned that she had been chosen to lead a dangerous mission to avert an apocalypse, brought about by the terrifying masquerade, Ekwensu. Now, stronger, feistier, and a bit older, Sunny is studying with her mentor Sugar Cream and struggling to unlock the secrets in her strange Nsibidi book.

Awhile back, I was at SDCC, and I walked by a publisher’s booth, and they handed me the first book in this series, for free! They just gave me a whole book for free! I’ve had this happen before at cons, but it’s usually self-published stuff, or spin-off books of dubious quality. But this is a book that’s perfectly relevant to my interests, a YA fantasy novel with an exciting new setting, and they just gave it to me! What a wonderful thing to have happen.

Anyway, I was hooked, and I got the next book in the series out of the library. I loved it. The woman at the publisher’s booth told me this was “Nigerian Harry Potter,” and I definitely got Harry Potter vibes from it. It honestly took me back to my days reading the original HP books in a way none of JK Rowling’s subsequent books (or the movies) have been able to do. That’s not to say it’s a copy, or anything - this series is way more eager to dig into the big, magical mythical stuff that HP mostly only hinted at, and is conversely much more willing to spend time in the real world and discuss real-world issues. It’s . . . really really good.

Also, as a personal bonus for me, there are multiple cool magical creatures which are arthropods - mythical spiders, cool magic wasps, I just love it.

9/10. My mom stopped reading it halfway through saying “As I get older, I’ve had less patience for books that aren’t very good.” But then again, she never liked Harry Potter as much as I did either, so maybe she just doesn’t get our generation.

Click more for reviews of We Hunt the Flame, Bloodwitch, and The Throne of the Crescent Moon

We Hunt the Flame, by Hafsah Faizal Zafira is the Hunter, disguising herself as a man when she braves the cursed forest of the Arz to feed her people. Nasir is the Prince of Death, assassinating those foolish enough to defy his autocratic father, the king. If Zafira was exposed as a girl, all of her achievements would be rejected; if Nasir displayed his compassion, his father would punish him in the most brutal of ways.

I really wanted to like this book. I’ve been reading a lot of Middle-Eastern history and the thought of a fantasy inspired by that is 100% my jam. But this book is just . . . not that good. It’s not offensively bad, it just feels like the first draft of another, better book. I actually did not finish this book. I gave up and took it back to the library.

The main romance feels very predictable, and honestly, it was giving me big Reylo fanfic vibes. The exposition, of which there is massive amounts, is clumsily delivered. It feels like it ought to be the second book in a series, because there are so many past events being explained all the time.

The one thing I kinda liked was the bits of Arabic in the book, and the choice to not exposit the Arabic bits on top of the fantasy bits. And I learned a new Arabic word from this book! That’s a positive.

3/10. Wish they’d spent more time on the editing.

Bloodwitch, by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes (and its sequel, Bloodkin) Vance Ehecatl was raised with every luxury he could imagine in a beautiful greenhouse within the powerful empire of Midnight. Vampires are the only guardians Vance has ever known since he was abandoned by his shapeshifter family as a baby quetzal, and he is grateful to them for generously providing for all of his needs. When an act of violence forces Vance from his sheltered home, he is startled to meet Malachi Obsidian, a fellow shapeshifter with conflicting ideas about Midnight and its leader, Mistress Jeshickah.

This is a new book from an author I loved as a child. Atwater-Rhodes published her first book at 14, when I was four, and I came across her books when I was 11ish and first learning to write. Her book Hawksong was the first romance story I really enjoyed, and its sequel Wolfcry was one of the first times I ever encountered a queer romance in a fantasy novel, at a time I was starting to wonder whether I was queer.

This book still caught the same interest I had in her books all those years ago. Bloodwitch is set in the same world as Hawksong, but centuries later. Personally, I would have preferred a book set in the same timeline, but it was still great to return to this world and its conflicts and magic.

With that said, it wasn’t perfect, and this wasn’t one of those times where I returned to an old favorite author and was like “Oh my god, I never appreciated what a genius she was when I was a stupid kid!” I was particularly struck by Vance’s character arc in the first book, which felt uneven. Vance is raised by the villains, and believes they’re the good guys initially. And then, early in the book, one of them kills his friend in cold blood, shouts at him, tries to kill him, and chases him out of their stronghold. And then . . . he goes back to them, and there’s ANOTHER, separate moment where he suddenly realizes they don’t care about him and turns on them. I really didn’t understand why that first moment didn’t shake his loyalty, but the second one did.

I was also kind of disappointed by the lack of queer characters. A lot of my favorite straight authors, when I checked back in on their work in 2019, have included queer representation, and because I knew that Atwater-Rhodes is herself queer, I was really hoping for some of That Gay Shit.

7/10. Give me that gay shit, Atwater-Rhodes, I know you’re holding out on me.

The Throne of the Crescent Moon, by Saladin Ahmed The Crescent Moon Kingdoms, home to djenn and ghuls, holy warriors and heretics, are at the boiling point of a power struggle between the iron-fisted Khalif and the mysterious master thief known as the Falcon Prince. In the midst of this brewing rebellion a series of brutal supernatural murders strikes at the heart of the Kingdoms. It is up to a handful of heroes to learn the truth behind these killings.

This, this was the book I wanted when I picked up We Hunt the Flame. This is the quality content I want in my fantasy novel. I fell in love with the main character, Adoulla, almost immediately, and I was terrified he was going to die. I just love this prissy, hedonistic, idealistic, middle-aged, fat hero so much, and I will RIOT if Ahmed kills him off.

I liked the other older characters in this book a lot too. Ahmed clearly has a knack for making cool characters. Dawoud and Litaz are cranky old ex-adventurers. Adoulla’s love interest is a middle-aged sex worker who really wants him to commit and marry her or fuck off, and I am so rooting for them, I want them to live happily ever after, they deserve that.

The treatment of sex work and sex worker characters in this book is also a major plus. There’s a lot of moral ambiguity in this book, where I’m not sure which character we’re supposed to believe, but the one issue the book takes a firm stance on is DON’T BE AN ASSHOLE TO SEX WORKERS, THEY ARE PEOPLE TOO. This book is written by a man and is not the kind of feminist fantasy I read a lot of (like We Hunt the Flame and The Tiger at Midnight are) so I was pleasantly surprised by this strong pro-sex worker’s rights message.

On the downside, I did feel like the younger characters were less interesting than the older characters. They still felt like colorful, detailed characters drawn with a skillful hand, but they also felt much closer to the kind of characters you usually see front and center in a fantasy novel. What I loved about Adoulla and company is that you don’t often see fantasy heroes who are fat and old and tired. The romance between the two younger heroes is competently drawn and believable but I did find myself wishing the camera would pan away from them and go back to the cool characters.

Other notes:

I found out that Saladin Ahmed is a Marvel Comics writer and is writing a comic about my favorite superhero, Ms Marvel, and I couldn’t be happier with that news.

I was certain, reading this book, that Ahmed plays D&D and that this book was inspired by D&D, and HA, CALLED IT. My nerd-dar is ON POINT.

9/10. Adoulla is my dad now, no take-backsies.

[cyberdva]

Drummer Boy Part 10 Roger Taylor X Reader (John X Reader)

(Originally From My Wattpad 📓 @panicathetrash15 ) A/N: This took me a month to draft and 9 hours to write... enjoy 

Word Count: 2k Paring: Ben Hardy!Roger Taylor X Reader Warnings: Mentions Of Alcohol, Cursing, and Cheating {Angst}

Main Masterlist 

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3 

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5 

Part 6 

Part 7 

Part 8 

Part 9

_________

Y/N POV

_________

The thunder crashed loudly, as the power flickered on and off, another crash was heard from upstairs. Brian, John, and I tried to get any information from Freddie. We all stumbled up from where we were positioned before. I’m scared, I don’t know what is going on, is Tammy ok?

“Freddie what happened?” We began to scale the stairs, our mouths spat our bundles of questions. We couldn’t all fit up the stair and we uncomfortably slammed next to each.

“Tammy fell and hit her head on the corner of the table.” his expression was mortifying, it was a mix of shock and utter normality. This news wasn’t exactly awe-inspiring, Tammy was a very clumsy person, she has had her fair share of falls. Nothing like this though. We made it to the top floor and started looking around.

“Which room is she in?” I was jogging down the hallway frantically looking through rooms.

“The second guest room at the end of the hallway.” Freddie ran in front of me and almost tripped over a beer bottle. Is it Roger’s? Speaking of Roger, where is he? Shouldn’t he be concerned about his “girlfriend”? Are they actually dating? It’s kind of pathetic that Tammy acts so tough when I even make eye contact with Roger, which happens very rarely at this point. I feel like we hate each other and it’s going to stay that way for awhile.

“I found her!” Deaky had made it to the room with Freddie, “Come on Y/N.” Brian was tugging my arm, I reluctantly followed him. Another crash of lightning came bounding down from the sky, it was the loudest one yet. I jumped from the sound and entered the room. My eyes scanned the room, until they stopped on Tammy’s limp body, with what could only be blood seeping through her hair.

“What the hell happened?” I rushed to her side quickly. How? That’s all I have to say. “Did she drink?” I sighed, each day gets worse and worse.

“Not that I know. I’m pretty sure she fell.” Freddie came walking through the door.

“Well what are you doing? Call an ambulance.” We scurried around looking for a phone we could call someone on. I gave up and basically threw myself onto the floor, I’m too overwhelmed at this point. John came down to sit down with me, I must have looked so flustered, god it’s so embarrassing. I started to talk to him about tiny things and music became a swift topic.

I sighed, “We were supposed to practice tomorrow.” I trailed off with more of my relevant problems and John just nodded along.

“Of course everything revolves around you Y/N. If you haven’t noticed by now your friend is dying on the floor bleeding and what are you doing about it?” Roger stood in the doorway.

“Well what are you doing about Roger?” I sneered back.

“As much as I love drama, we have a conundrum, I don’t know how we didn’t notice this, we can’t call the police the phone is out.” Freddie pushed Roger out of the door.

“What?”

“The power is out and we can’t call anyone.” My grip on Tammy’s hair became tighter.

“John could you please get your car ready?” he gave me a small nod and flashed me that adorable smile. He dashed out the half closed door and Roger left. Good.

“Does anyone know where Cynthia is, she went to nursing school at one point. Maybe she can help?”

Everyone shook their heads no, god dammit. Everything is going wrong. Should I look for bandages, I might as well. I picked up Tammy and slid her back onto the floor. I could’ve sworn I saw her eyes open, weird. I heard a commotion coming from outside, walking over to the window I gazed outside. The streets were already starting to flood and it didn’t seem like the downpour was stopping anytime soon, I went back to Tammy and it seems her arm was now lying on the floor. That’s not how I left her, is it wrong that I feel skeptical. I pulled a stray hair away from her face, a sheet was nicely folded onto of the bed next to us, so I grabbed it and laid it over Tam. The bleeding looked the same as it did before. It stopped that quickly? Another glace out the window led me to see a frantic Freddie yelling at the sky. I could vaguely hear him screaming. Something about “the rain being a load of bollocks.” Genius Fred, like that will magically stop the rain.

Fred was completely soaked, when I turned around I was greeted by no one, I guess Brian left. Might as well check the bathroom. I sighed, before I made it to the bathroom John came tumbling back into the room. He was out of breath panting.

“Y/N, the car is useless, it’s about to flood”

“Yeah I saw. By the way do you have any first aid kits or supplies. If we find Cynthia or Crystal they can fix Tammy up.” John thought for a moment before he could restiger what I said. I was about to wave a hand in front of his face, he definitely zoned out. The conversation became gradually awkward.

“Oh, um, there’s some stuff in the cabinets and I last saw Cynthia going into the downstairs bathroom with Brian when I ran upstairs, do you want me to get him?” he scratched the back of neck and glanced at his feet.

“Yeah! That would be great!” He nodded, gave me a look of uncertainty and another lightning bolt came down from the sky and lit up the small room. Tammy twitched? She hates thunder and lighting, did she really pass out? John looked at her body and just left.What is up with everyone today?

The bathroom was my last resort, it was painted a nice shade of lime green the floor and shower tiles were pink to complement the green. Inside a woven basket was a white box with a red plus sign on it, finally. I peeked inside and it had everything I could use to help Tammy.

I carefully pulled out a needle from the box, my hand guided itself through her hair. The red substance was chunky, nothing like blood should be. Flakes of white were laced in the red blood. It was like cornstarch, pulling more threads of hair I could see no cute, no bruises, nothing that could have caused this much blood. I tried to think this through, anything that I could think of to proceed in this situation. Nothing came to mind. I layed the body down, I went to go seek out John. Why would Tammy lie about something so serious, she scared all of us. Was Freddie in on this, he was with her before the incident. My head hurt too much to comprehend it. My legs cracked and I groaned, my feet padded softly as I went to go find someone, anyone that could help me through what I’m seeing.

Half way down that same hallway the door to that “second guest bedroom at the end of the hallway” slammed shut. I jumped and the storm grew louder. I contemplated going downstairs or going back to the room. I went back and it was probably the worst decision I made. I cracked the door open and what I saw was mortifying. John was positioned in the small bed with a conscience Tammy making out. I slammed the door back shut and ran down the hallway. My breaths were inconsistent, before I knew it I collided head first with Roger. My head spun and a ringing sound flooding my ears. Beer was spilt all over me, my clothes were drenched in the sticky substance.

“Are you bloody serious?!” He was holding some sort beverage and it spilt all over us. I was too concerned with my own thoughts to even give a damn about Roger’s drink. I started jogging down the hallway while Roger spat out a string of curses. My first instinct was to sought out Brian since he was the one that made me think I had a chance with John. Turns out Roger was following me and still was bent out of shape.

“Am I not even going to get an apology?!” he whipped me right round, he was partially fuming. “Go check on your “girlfriend,” I spoke in a condescending tone he didn’t like. “She’s busy snogging John down the hall.” He shot me a look and rolled his eyes. “Very funny Y/N, I get we hate each other, but don’t bring Tammy into this.”

“I’m serious Roger go look.” he looked at me and glanced at the door. As if I was lying or something. Something clicked in his tiny brain and he headed towards the door. His face contorted into a mixture of a scowl or a frown when he heard what was going on. Just the petty conversations between John and Tammy. He pushed the door open and peaked his head in, then closed it with a bang. He looked betrayed, he’s probably going to take it out on me, right? He strutted back to me, and looked like he was going to cry.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” As he rants I leaned against a wall, listening attentively. He went into how Tammy and him could’ve been his dream idea of a couple., a ‘power couple’ per say. I honestly can’t agree, but I kept my opinions to myself for my own benefit.

“I put time into dating a girl, and I rarely commit, only if I really like the girl. This time was different she used me to get to John. Is this something that you and your friends do. Make people upset and thrive off of it. Just to make me feel like this” Is he tearing up? Tammy can do some serious damage….

“Woah Rog, I think you’re cutting to conclusions here.” I put my hands up to signal defense, he really likes to start fights.

“Don’t call me Rog.” he huffed. “I’m struggling here. You should be listening.” he proceeded to cross his arms and I laughed while he shot me a glare.

“I can tell.” I patted his head, before I could hear his wrath I slipped my way downstairs and into the kitchen in look for some food. I raided some cabinets, not looking to take anything major. All I could muster up to read was a granola bar. I did find a large grandfather clock that was quite interesting. It was adorned in many engravings of leaves and flowers. Some of the pieces were painted in a lighter brown and it made it seem like the sun was shining on it. Stunning.

The clock read 6:56, today was pretty eventful, honestly not in a good way. I still can’t wrap my head around why John did that. I thought we had a thing going, I thought we loved each other. I mean I’m just a guitarist, who wants to date a guitarist? People find more interest in the drummer or the singer. What if the drummer is an inconsiderate asshole and the singer leaves at any waking moment, only to show up at the worse times.

Maybe a nap will help me balance my mind. A fire had been put in the fireplace, John’s living room was cozy, a perfect place to rest for the meantime. The sound of rain and fire cracking let me peacefully drift off to sleep, I dreamt that life was good, that Roger wasn’t mean, that John loved me, that my band was successful. I dreamt that I was loved for once.  If I knew what I had to face when I woke up, I would’ve just walked back home in the pouring rain.

[nomadicism]

wasn't the blonde officer in episode 1 based off of an oldtron character?

Oh Anon. Bless you. You have no idea what you’ve just asked of me.

I’ve been sitting on a few drafts of “Every Robotech/Macross Reference in VLD” meta post for awhile now, and S7 really gave up the goods (end of S6 too…). The references are many, and what follows just barely scratches the surface, but are the most relevant to that mysterious blond officer. I’ve posted about a few of them in the past too.

The blond officer in E1S1 is an Easter Egg of Roy Fokker from Robotech.

Roy Fokker is the ace pilot and leader of the Skull Squadron. He is the mentor and big brother character to the main protagonist, Rick Hunter (Hikaru Ichijo). In other words—She/ith aside—Roy is to Rick as Shiro is to Keith. Seriously.

Roy is one of my all-time favorite anime characters, and his relationship with Claudia (my actual favorite character from Robotech) was the first time that I ever saw an interracial romance in a cartoon (e.g. 1985). That’s a big deal. Macross (and thus Robotech) was ahead of its time. Serious feels for these two.

Roy tragically dies during just after a big battle (in which he was mortally wounded) against the Zentraedi, and Rick goes on to lead the Skull Squadron. I am 100% convinced that in the original draft for VLD, the decision to introduce Shiro as a mentor and big brother character to Keith in addition to the original plans to have Shiro die at the end of S2 were informed by Roy’s death in Farewell Big Brother.

Worth noting, that the Zentraedi are the blue-to-gray-to-purple war-like aliens who come to Earth to find the SDF-1 and the Protoculture Matrix. In Robotech, Protoculture is basically Quintessence. In VLD S7, the IGF-Atlas is an homage to the SDF-1, which can transform into a giant robot (in addition to having its own fleet of transforming jet fighters, aka the Veritechs/Valkyries).

As for Rick Hunter, well, I can’t post about Roy without posting about Rick at the same time.

Rick is a pretty standard shōnen protagonist. Wears red, has a mullet, can be a little hot-headed, is introduced on the young side, and his prodigy-like piloting skills have him leading a squadron of his own in no time. Sound familiar? He glows up over the course of the series too.

In subsequent Robotech sequels, Rick goes on to lead the SDF-3. His most recent incarnation is seen in Prelude to the Shadow Chronicles, where he’s now an older man (54), has all white hair and has acquired a curious scar along his left right cheek and jaw.

ミ(✿ʘ ᴗʘ)っ Remember how Keith was originally supposed to have white hair?

Finally, in the Robotech/Voltron cross-over, Rick is lead by the ghost of King Alfor to find and pilot the White Lion. This the only time in the Voltron mythos that the White Lion appeared as an actual mecha (we’ll see if S8 brings us one but I kind of doubt it).

Also, the Robotech/Voltron cross-over is also the first time that a comet with the ability to cross universes (cough REALITIES cough) has appeared in the Voltron mythos. So there’s that as well. (ʘ‿ʘ✿)

[whirofinvention-blog]

My Brief Encounter With the Sun

It has been a while since I've posted here, at least relative to the rate I would like to be posting and to the events I would like to be attending. To start, I guess I should come clean and admit I didn't attend GP Portland. By now I've drafted three separate posts about my not attending, but they all sounded self-indulgent. Instead of a dedicated post, here's the bullet points:

- I did not know anyone playing in the main event. When I started this blog, I knew two people locked in to the event, but leading up to the event they all dropped out. This is not the end of the world, but it is nice to have friends around to celebrate and commiserate with.

- My deck choice was up in the air. As I have mentioned before, I own Hardened Scales and Lantern Control. My results leading up to the GP with Scales were middling at best. Lantern on the other hand has a better track record, but underperforms against skilled opponents. Plus both are faced with the daunting amount of sideboard hate present for KCI decks right now.

-Lastly, and most importantly, social anxiety was the big roadblock. This is something I have struggled with for awhile. It is far from crippling, but it is stifling at times. I get in my own head about it. Though the other two points were factors, they probably could have been ignored. My anxiety just let them become excuses.

There were still silver linings. I had a great time at the event site with friends playing EDH, and I bought and sold a lot of cardboard.

Plus, the Friday of the GP, I registered for Oakland. Maybe that little bit of disappointment in myself was the perfect push to get me to register for Oakland.

If you're reading this, it means you probably keep up with Magic pretty frequently and are already aware that I did not top 8 the GP this past weekend. It was the most successful weekend (in fact it was pretty heartbreaking), but I had a great time. Friday night I got into Oakland pretty late so did not have time to go to the convention center. Instead I went to the home of my friend David and his partner Kayla who graciously housed me this weekend. We ate some dinner and stayed up way too late drinking, catching up and playing games of Scales versus Mono-Red Phoenix.

Saturday, we got up and made our way to the hall for what was going to be a long day. Before Round 1, I got my beautiful full-art Bolt promo as well as my not-so-beautiful Tigtone playmat and sat down for my first round. Unfortunately for me, I got paired against a pretty rough matchup to start my tournament: UB Faeries. If you have never read the card Mistbind Clique, I would suggest giving it a look cause it is a very messed up card. We went to game 3, but ultimately, the tempo power of his deck combined with his suite of removal and counters proved to strong for my robots.

Round 2 can be described pretty easily. If you are playing against TitanShift and your opponent fails to ever draw a Primeval Titan or a Scapeshift, then their deck looks pretty atrocious.

The following round was the one that really hurt. Most of it is a blur besides the last turn. My opponent was on Grixis Death's Shadow and sitting at 5 life with a few cards, two shocks, a fetch, and a Gurmag and Death's Shadow. I had three lands (2 Nexus, 1 Citadel), a Hangarback on 4 counters with and activation up, a Mox, and a Ravager on three counters at 15 life. My opponent cantrips main phase, plays a second fetch, and goes to combat swinging with both. I know that if he has a Temur Battle Rage, and I don't block the Death's Shadow, I am dead, so I immediately block the Shadow. He then goes to 1 life by fetching a  shock and fetching a basic and TBR's the Shadow. I activate Hangarback and the Inkmoth and sacrifice all of my permanents besides the Welding Jar and a Thopter to the Ravager. We do the math. I have a 13/13 Ravager to his 12/12 Shadow. He tramples over for 11 and deals 5 with the Gurmag for lethal. There were two mistakes I made here. The first you may have noticed. If I was going to sac the Hangarback, why not block the Gurmag first. This one felt bad. The other was that I simply did the math wrong and thought the attack put me to 14.

This round spawned the quote of the weekend when I texted Dave: "I just punted my round 3 into the fucking sun." Unfortunately for Dave, he also made a round losing misplay this round, so we vented to each other which helped. Having a friend around can really help alleviate the anger/stress/sadness from moments like this.

Round 4 is where my tournament ended. My opponent was on Devoted Evolution. Game 1 I had a Hardened Scales and Ballista and was able to kill all his creatures easily. The other two games he assembled infinite mana and a mana dump with the first four turns. The only really relevant statistic I have is that all of the games where I resolved a Hardened Scales and was able to put a +1/+1 counter on a creature while it was out, I won easily. The deck felt extremely strong in those instances, and it won a couple games without the Enchantment. Overall, I can't be too disappointed given the amount of preparation I put into things and walked away proud of the fact that even though I scrubbed out early, I took my opponents to game 3 every time and had a nice time.

The rest of the weekend was side events which were super fun. I managed to play a couple Battlebond drafts with Dave which were great, but I want to quickly tell you about my ridiculous Ultimate Masters draft. 

The draft started with me taking a Demonic Tutor and getting passed an Unholy Hunger followed by a blue card. Pick 4 I saw a Spider Spawning and went all in. By the end of the draft I had an absolutely insane U/B/g self-mill deck that's win cons were pretty much just a Spider Spawning, Rise from the Tides and a Lab Man I picked up pack 3 pick 7. Round 1 I was paired against Dave, of course, and proceeded to slowly crush his U/W Heroic deck and killed him with Lab Man in 2 quick games. Round 2 didn't go as well. I got paired against the only other competent drafter at the table who was on G/W Heroic and made a 4/4 on turn 3 both games while holding up protection for it. After the games, my opponent told me that she thought my deck was the sweetest and probably the only other good deck in the pod which was nice.

There's not much else to say about the event, except it was a ton of fun, and I am already looking forward to the next one (GPLA in March maybe?).

Before I end things, I feel obligated to talk about the bannings announcement scheduled for two weeks from now. I know most of the world will never read this, but I want to stake a claim and call my shot now.

Modern has a problem that needs to be fixed: KCI. In a typical tournament 4 of the top 8 decks being the same archetype isn't the end of the world, but KCI has been showing a dominant performance in the modern metagame for months now. No matter how many copies of Stony Silence and Rest in Peace are running around, the deck still puts up amazing results. Plus the addition of Sai has made it so some games they just attack you to death. None of this even takes into account how the deck can have 10 minute turns and is a nightmare to sit down across at your local FNM.

As I see it there are a few different permutations for possible bans and unbans that may be on the horizon.

The first, and perhaps most vocalized ban, is Ancient Stirrings. This card is probably the best card draw spell in Modern and sees play in KCI, so it seems like the logical card to target with a ban. Unfortunately, I don't think banning it would actually do too much to KCI. If it were banned, I would expect the deck to just abandon green in favor of more blue sources to take advantage of Whir of Invention. Plus, if you ban Ancient Stirrings, then you are also hurting Tron, Amulet, Hardened Scales, and Lantern/4-Color Prison. Some people might say that it is for the good of the format to take the card out of it, but I have to ask, when is it good for a format to hurt 5 different decks with one banning?

The next most likely banning in my eyes is Faithless Looting. Much like Ancient Stirrings, this card is extremely powerful and is the only other card in the running for most powerful draw spell in the format (at least in my eyes). Looting is almost never used as a fair card and has shown how strong it can be in the recent resurgence of Dredge as well as the new Arclight Phoenix decks. The only reason I write about it here is I believe you cannot ban Ancient Stirrings without also banning Looting. If you get rid of Stirrings it will make the Looting decks stronger in the format. Now, if you ban both of them, you would be hurting a huge chunk of the format. Maybe this is what WotC wants. A fairer looking field of decks in modern. Personally, I don't want to play a format where the combo decks are Storm and CoCo with the other decks all being things like GBx, UW Control and Spirits. I cannot imagine a world where they ban just Looting and not Stirrings as well.

This brings me to the card that people have been asking about banning almost as much as Stirrings. Krark-Clan Ironworks. KCI as a deck obviously couldn't exist without the card KCI. The free sacrifice outlet is powerful and maybe is too powerful for Modern. It creates the mana to cast the spells. If WotC banned KCI, I think it would be a fine decision while only impacting one deck in the format. 

Still, I don't think banning KCI is the answer. The card has potential and provides a unique effect to the format, that could see other uses. Maybe people start turbo-ing out their Emrakuls or making giant Walking Ballistas with it. I don't know, but the options are there. Scrap Trawler on the other hand doesn't really seem to have the same potential and is the card I would most like to see banned. If KCI makes the mana, Scrap Trawler is the part that makes the loops actually happen. It gets you back the Spheres and Stars to draw the cards. Plus, it is hard for me to imagine this card ever doing anything other than degenerate interactions with egg-like artifacts. Just like with KCI, banning this would have no effect on the format other than hurting KCI, but I think KCI has more potential for fair things and for that reason should be left in the format. 

A few other thoughts I have on the current ban list. Though at this point in time it is pretty much a meme, I do believe Stoneforge Mystic would be a safe unban. It is rare that I find myself in a game where Stoneforge Mystic would be too good. Though it is a powerful card and will assuredly see play in fair decks, modern has become a strong enough format over the past few years that I doubt it would be an issue right now.

The other unbanning I could see happening, and actually want to happen more, is Preordain. Green and Red should not have the best one-mana cantrips in modern. Blue is the card draw color and blue deserves the best cantrip. There are a few worries with unbanning Preordain, specifically blue based combo decks like Storm would become oppressive. That may happen, but I believe that has more to do with storm being a bad mechanic than Preordain being too strong for the format. Plus, I think this might be the best solution to avoid having to ban Stirrings and Looting anytime soon. Maybe this would make the format too combo-centric, but this isn't Legacy where we have Ponder and Brainstorm. Fair blue decks would play Preordain and be better off for it.

Also, they should unban Punishing Fire just to see what the fuck happens.

Well, then. See ya soon I guess. Next time I will probably write about an EDH deck.